2018 / 12/12

Positive About eSports' Inclusion in Olympics;​konii: The Two Are Essentially the Same

​Reported by Newtalk Journalist Hsing-Hsiu Tsai"ZOWIE DIVINA PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) International Women's Invitational Tournament sees advanced 48 athletes from Europe, America, and Asia-Pacific competing on the same grounds after the preliminaries. These players will participate in an offline finals at Shanghai, China from December 13th to 16th, showcasing the most professional women's eSport competition to the world."

Many world-class athletes are gathered in the lineup for ZOWIE DIVINA this year, and these female athletes will compete head-to-head at Shanghai. Majoring in sports management in Australia, called "konii" or Connie Hillmen, not only excels in her academics, but she is also a famous female eSport athlete throughout Australia.

Having achieved a great balance in academics and career, konii always brims with confidence in competitions. She praised for the integrated e-sport system, "ZOWIE ZONE" on her Twitter, and stated that the flexibly adjustable table height and monitor proximity make the system convenient and thoughtful. And as the saying goes, konii wishes to go for the "winner, winner, chicken dinner" assisted by the system. On participating in this international women's invitational game, konii is quite excited, "I highly look forward to participating in a women-only competition like the ZOWIE DIVINA Women's PUBG International Invitational Tournament.I also hope to do well in this competition, hopefully I can produce footage of great game play - and if not, I also wouldn't mind producing funny or flop scenes!"

In recent years, there have been much debated on whether eSports should be included in the Olympic Games, and konii's eyes began to sparkle on this subject. "Actually, my dissertation is on this subject! I believe that eSports should be included in the Olympic Games becausetraditional sports and eSports share similar core values, business models, and athlete management. Though many people will question, "Why should we watch other people playing video games?" But as a matter of fact, this isn't any different from traditional ball games. Any player with a basic understanding of the game would want to watch competitions, perhaps to learn techniques, or perhaps just to watch their stellar performance. These are all reasons why gaming has become a sport."

konii further elaborates, "Traditional sports share the same problems with eSports. For example, some athletes use prohibited substances, while certain eSports athletes use plug-ins. These interfere with the fairness of the competition. It is the same in terms of athlete management. There used to be an Australian team that never made it past the semi-finals. However, since their team hired a therapist, their performance has significantly improved, showing that mental health is fairly important for both traditional athletes and eSport athletes, and also demonstrating how much commonality there is between the two.

For instance, you know LeBron James, the NBA player right?" konii made a reference, "Even if I were to find a man with similar physique and build, he would never be able to perform like LeBron James. Why? This is because of his decision-making in a split second or two. It is precisely because of his resolve that he has been crowned as "King James." It is the same for eSports. Though we don't sweat in eSport competitions and we use less stamina, it is that split-second decision that influences the entire game. This philosophy is similar to traditional sports."

​As for difference between female and male players, konii believes that, "During mixed competition, we can see that there isn't much difference in terms of gender or skills. However, in my personal experience, I think that male players are more confident in game-play, while female players demonstrate less of that. I believe this is a result from culture and mental factors. Nevertheless, overall speaking, there really isn't much difference."

Having participated in various large-scale professional competitions, konii has also won positive recognition from many male players, who believe in her astounding skills and enjoy gaming with her. While gaming for fun in her spare time, konii has also encountered awful gender-related problems, "I believe female players have all heard of these?" laughed konii. "Things they say to undermine girls and to question your skills. Sometimes I find them to be quite creative. When I turn on my microphone and they hear that it's a girl's voice, sometimes they refuse to play with me, or would even say, "Go back to the kitchen!" or "This is not the place for you." However, when I destroy them, they would always say, "You must be cheating and using a plug-in!" I'll take that as a back-handed compliment. After all, they acknowledged my skills!

As an Australian eSport athlete while majoring in sports management has given konii a unique perspective on the eSports industry in Australia. She believes that the Australian eSports industry is still developing, and though the athletes have decent skills, the overall environment is still maturing. "Five years ago, most of our eSports athletes weren't paid. And now, many professional athletes still can't receive full-time salaries, and even when they do, I still believe they are being underpaid. Additionally, compared to other countries, we frequently bear extremely high ping values so we can only do domestic team practices rather than competing with athletes from other countries. This makes us a little solitary."

​Currently, the hottest eSport games in Australia are none other than "League of Legends," "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO)", and "DOTA 2." Earlier this year, the champion of DOTA 2 International Invitational was Team OG, which has the Australian player called "ana," or Anathan Pham. konii believes this positive result will help to promote the Australian eSports industry, and she remains optimistic of Australian players' skills. "Honestly speaking, it's not about you, but our Australian players for CS: GO can definitely beat any Taiwanese team! This is undoubtedly true!" Having demonstrated her confidence for the skills of Australian eSport athletes, we can hardly wait to see konii's performance in this Invitational Tournament.​